A funny thing happened in the coop the other day...

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, my husband set about attaching doors to the coop. We are working hard to construct the coop carefully due to stories we've heard about predators, so my husband is set to build a predator proof building to house our hens securely. He's doing an amazing job, helped by our sons. Back to the doors...he selected hinges and latches typically used for gates and they worked out beautifully.

See? No way for a coon or weasel to squeeze a prying paw there! Just to check it out, he went inside the coop, allowing the door to latch closed behind him.

Great fit! No openings apparent from this side either....but wait!

Hmm...if you look closely, you might notice that there is nothing on the inside of the door to release the latch. The door only opens from the outside.

OK - well, there's windows, right? These two have plywood still screwed to the wall. Not impossible to deal with...if you have a screwdriver...that is outside the building with the other tools.

Did I mention that I wasn't home? I had taken our youngest to soccer practice and would not return for a couple of hours. Our older son had been helping, but had been released to practice music on his keyboard. He typically does this with headphones on. He was in that building visible through the window that was too small to crawl through. So, my husband yelled...and yelled....and knocked...and waved...and yelled some more. Finally, he was able to get our son's attention and was rescued from his trap.
Since then, he has built and attached two more doors and shutters on the windows, being careful to leave at least one door open until he modifies them for a latch release on the inside!